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ESPSYSOP Version 1.30
Revised: August 25, 1987
(C) 1987 by ELTRON Software Products
All rights reserved.
The ESPSYSOP utility has been designed to do maintenance on the
OPUS or FIDO bulletin board systems USER.BBS file. As such,
this utility is available free of charge to Sysops of non-
profit, non-commercial OPUS or FIDO bulletin board systems. All
other users must register their copy by sending in $20.00 to
ELTRON Software Products at the address given below. This will
entitle you to update notices and support through the
Fidonet/Opus Matrix. Please feel free to copy and distribute
the program and documentation, in UNMODIFIED form, leaving full
credit to ELTRON Software Products for its development.
We welcome all comments and suggestions concerning this program.
Please address all correspondence to 134/12, (403)-293-5129 (the
ESP BBS, operating at 2400 baud, 8 data bits, No parity, 1 stop
bit), or to the following address:
ELTRON Software Products
Box 3941, Stn. B
Calgary, Alberta
T2M 4M5
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
----------------- ------
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................. 2.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ............................. 2.
REMOTE USE WARNING .............................. 2.
FIDO SYSOPS ..................................... 2.
STARTING THE PROGRAM ............................ 2.
OPERATION ....................................... 3.
Logging In ................................. 3.
The Main Menu .............................. 3.
.)point assignment .................... 3.
M)ax. points ..................... 3.
.)point assignment ............... 4.
S)ysop to rec. 0 ................. 4.
!)Purge ............................... 4.
*)Restore ............................. 4.
A)dd record ........................... 4.
B)egin ................................ 4.
C)hange ............................... 5.
D)elete ............................... 5.
E)nd .................................. 5.
F)ind ................................. 6.
K)ill ................................. 6.
M)sg. pointer ......................... 6.
N)ext record .......................... 6.
O)ptions .............................. 7.
H)ighlight color ................. 7.
N)ormal color .................... 7.
L)astname first .................. 7.
F)ile userlist ................... 7.
P)rint userlist .................. 7.
S)how passwords .................. 7.
P)revious record ...................... 7.
R)ecord number ........................ 7.
S)ort ................................. 8.
#) number of calls ............... 8.
C)ity, Prov. ..................... 8.
D)ate of last loggon ............. 8.
F)irstname ....................... 8.
L)astname ........................ 8.
dO)wnload amounts ................ 8.
U)pload amounts .................. 8.
ul/dlR)atio ...................... 8.
priV)ilege level ................. 8.
priV)s ................................ 8.
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) Page
------------------------- ------
neX)t find ............................ 8.
The Scan Old Users Menu .................... 9.
B)egin ................................ 9.
E)nd .................................. 9.
F)ind ................................. 9.
N)ext record .......................... 9.
P)revious record ...................... 9.
Q)uit ................................. 9.
R)ecord number ........................ 9.
S)elect ............................... 9.
neX)t find ............................ 9.
The Change Menu ............................ 10.
C)ity, Prov. .......................... 10.
D)ebit ................................ 10.
F)lags ................................ 10.
M)ore ................................. 10.
P)assword ............................. 10.
Q)uit ................................. 10.
cR)edit ............................... 10.
S)ave ................................. 10.
U)sername ............................. 10.
priV)ilege ............................ 10.
The More Changes Menu ...................... 11.
H)elp level ........................... 11.
D)ownloads ............................ 11.
U)ploads .............................. 11.
dA)ily download ....................... 11.
Q)uit ................................. 11.
S)ave ................................. 11.
T)ime ................................. 11.
#) number of calls .................... 11.
The Flag Changes Menu ...................... 11.
A)nsi ................................. 11.
F)ormfeeds ............................ 11.
M)ore ................................. 11.
O)ped ................................. 11.
T)abs ................................. 11.
U)sed Opus ............................ 11.
The Privilege Levels Menu .................. 12.
T)wit ................................. 12.
D)isgrace ............................. 12.
N)ormal ............................... 12.
P)rivel ............................... 12.
E)xtra ................................ 12.
A)sst. Sysop .......................... 12.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) Page
------------------------- ------
S)ysop ................................ 12.
H)idden ............................... 12.
The Help Levels Menu ....................... 12.
N)ovice ............................... 12.
R)egular .............................. 12.
E)xpert ............................... 12.
OPUS and REMOTE OPERATION ....................... 13.
The main .BBS file ......................... 13.
The cleanup .BAT file ...................... 13.
The calling .BAT file ...................... 13.
POINT ASSIGNMENT ................................ 14.
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES ........................... 15.
/F (Fido switch) ......................... 15.
/Hn (Highlight color) ..................... 15.
/K (Keep log file) ....................... 15.
/L (Lastname first) ...................... 15.
/Nn (Normal color) ........................ 15.
/P (Password display) .................... 15.
/R (Remote operation) .................... 16.
/S (Sysop use - local keyboard) .......... 16.
/X (eXecute command stack) ............... 17.
REVISION INFORMATION ............................ 19.
Version 1.10 ............................... 19.
Version 1.20 ............................... 19.
Version 1.21 ............................... 19.
Version 1.30 ............................... 19.
WARRANTY ........................................ 20.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
---------------
My thanks to Kathi Crockett, the Co-Sysop of ESP BBS for her
helpful comments and suggestions in the writing of ESPSYSOP.
Also, some of the local Calgary area sysops who assisted in the
Beta testing. Special mention also to Hans Hoogstraat (134/10)
for his help in the Sort routine.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------
ESPSYSOP requires an MS-DOS/PC-DOS version 2.0 or higher with
the ANSI.SYS driver installed (see your DOS users manual for
more information about the ANSI.SYS driver).
REMOTE USE WARNING
------------------
For remote use, it is strongly recommended that you use the /R
command line switch when invoking ESPSYSOP. Please see details
in the section on command line switches.
FIDO SYSOPS
-----------
The /F command line switch is recommended if you are using
ESPSYSOP on a Fido USER.BBS file, since ESPSYSOP supports OPUS
flag defenitions by default. Setting certain flags without
having specified the /F switch will cause incorrect bits to be
set, a situation which is not fatal, but will not produce the
results desired. ESPSYSOP currently supports the Fido Version
11w and OPUS 1.03 and lower USER.BBS file structure. Future
revisions of ESPSYSOP beyond the current 1.30 will be modified
to support only the new and upcoming changed OPUS USER.BBS
structure.
STARTING THE PROGRAM
--------------------
ESPSYSOP is capable of running either from the local console, or
as a Remote utility using the DOS redirection flags on the
command line. To run the program from the local console, enter
the command ESPSYSOP. Running the program remotely can be
accomplished using either the OUTSIDE or OUTER utilities, or by
invoking the command from an OPUS menu using the OPUS embedded
control codes to invoke a batch file. For more information
about invoking ESPSYSOP from OPUS, see the section entitled
"OPUS and Remote Operation."
2
OPERATION
---------
Operation of ESPSYSOP is fairly self-explanatory, as all
functions are in the form of "pop-up" menus (as pop-up as
possible using ANSI). An explanation of the functions and
capabilities follows:
Logging In
----------
When ESPSYSOP is first invoked, the user will be asked for
their Username and Password. This is the username and
password you normally use to access OPUS or FIDO, and as
such provides a high measure of security against someone
running the program remote and making changes to your
USER.BBS file. Just follow the prompts to log in.
ESPSYSOP is able to read a file called LASTUSER.BBS for the
username if being run remote. See the section on "OPUS and
REMOTE OPERATION" for more information. If ESPSYSOP does
not find a valid USER.BBS file, you will be asked if you
want to create one.
The Main Menu
-------------
Following, is an explanation of the Main Menu items:
.)points Point addresses may be assigned to users in your
system. The matrix is slowly implementing such a
scheme on a universal basis, but there are other
advantages, such as the individualized messages
OPUS is capable of displaying at loggon. The
following options are available in the "point"
menu (note that in remote operation, ESPSYSOP
will go directly to the .)point assign. menu).
As well, ESPSYSOP does some error checking to
ensure that a swap of file records will not cause
a remote user's record to change positions.
M)ax. points
This is used for setting the maximum number of
points to facilitate making corrections. One
other use may be to sort the USER.BBS file in
order of descending privilege levels, and assign
point addresses to all users having a privilege
level greater than whatever you decide.
Otherwise, point address assignments may be best
handled on an individual basis.
3
.)point assign.
A point address assignment may be made for
any user currently in the USER.BBS file.
ESPSYSOP will ask you for the user's full
name, do a search, and then assign the next
available point address to that user. See
the section titled "POINT ASSIGNMENT" for
more information.
S)ysop to rec. 0
This option, as it sounds, will move the
sysop to record 0 of the USER.BBS file. The
advantage here, is that the user at record 0
has advance Last message read features in
OPUS and some Mail utilities. Using this
function will simply exchange the sysop with
whoever is currently at record 0.
!)Purge Used to purge records marked for deletion from
the USER.BBS file. This function is also
executed automatically when exiting the program.
*)Restore This command may be used to refresh the entire
screen in cases where line noise may have caused
disruptions during remote operation.
A)dd rec. Used to add a new record to the USER.BBS file.
When using this command, you will be required to
fill as a minimum the Username and Password
fields to successfully save the record to the
USER.BBS file. If you try to exit this command
without filling these requirements, you will
receive a warning message asking if you wish to
continue entering information. Selecting this
option will automatically move you to the C)hange
menu. With one addition, the menu items are
identical to C)hange. This additional option is:
O)ld user If any users have been previously
deleted from the USER.BBS file,
ESPSYSOP will have placed them in a
file USER.OLD. If this file exists,
ESPSYSOP will allow you to scan it to
find a user to restore back to the
normal USER.BBS file.
B)egin Go to the beginning of the USER.BBS file (Record
0).
4
C)hange The change menu allows you to make changes to the
information contained in a users record. You are
not allowed to make changes to a users record
having a privilege level greater than or equal to
your own unless you have SYSOP or HIDDEN
privileges.
D)elete Used to mark a record as deleted. This is a
"Toggle" command, meaning that if you'd rather
not delete the user, simply press D again. A
record marked as deleted will display a
"* Deleted *" message at the top of the screen.
It is not possible to delete a user having a
privilege level greater than or equal to your
own, unless you have SYSOP or HIDDEN privileges.
Deleted users are purged from the USER.BBS file
at the time you Q)uit the program. There is no
need to manually purge them. If there are any
records marked as deleted when you Q)uit,
ESPSYSOP will inform you with a message and ask
if you wish to purge the file. If you answer
Y)es, ESPSYSOP will create a number of output
files as follows:
USER.BBS The new userlist minus the purged
records.
USER.OLD Created if it doesn't exist,
appended to if it does. This is a
list of all deleted users. A
later version of ESPSYSOP will be
providing a utility for restoring
a user from this file to the
normal USER.BBS file.
USER.BAK The old USER.BBS file, simply
renamed... just in case you
decide you made a mistake.
E)nd Go to the last record of the USER.BBS file.
5
F)ind This command will find a search string specified
by you and display the first record of the
USER.BBS file containing that string within the
user's name. This command is "Case" independent.
Therefore, specifying the search string "do"
would find the first occurrence of a username
containing the letters "do". For example, in the
following list, ESPSYSOP would stop at the third
users name:
George Smith
Dirty Harry
Hank Donaldson
Ralph Townsend
The find command may be "ABORTED" by pressing any
key.
K)ill This option is used to mass delete users who have
not logged in for some time. To use this
command, you will either enter a date in a Month-
Day-Year format, or specify a number of days as
follows:
D)ate N)umber of days Q)uit
If you selected the D)ate format, ESPSYSOP will
enter the punctuation for you, and all you need
to do is enter the 2 digit number for each field
(ie. July 1, 1987 would be 07-01-87). Users
having last logged on before the date specified
will have their records marked for deletion.
ESPSYSOP will not actually delete them at this
time. This gives you the option of manually
going through the file and double checking if you
desire.
M)sg ptr. OPUS and FIDO (version 11w) reserve enough space
in each user's record to record the last message
area, and last message read in up to 10 message
areas. The message pointer command will
cause the pointer to increment by one, and
display the message area, and message read
settings for each of these 10 areas, starting at
0, and incrementing to 9, and then recycling back
to 0. The message pointer is automatically reset
to 0 each time a different user's record is
displayed.
N)ext Displays the next record in the USER.BBS file.
+) Pressing N or + at the last record will wrap back
to record 0.
6
O)ptions Used for selecting screen display options, such
as whether passwords should be hidden, or
usernames displayed Last name first.
H)igh Sets the highlight screen attribute.
To use this, it is necessary to first
set the Normal attribute, since a
N)ormal attribute of 0 will cause
ESPSYSOP to use its default colors.
N)ormal Sets the normal screen color attribute.
This may also be set with a command
line switch. Valid values are 0 to 15,
where 0 sets the default mode, and the
numbers from 8 to 15 set the high
intensity bit. Setting this value
automatically causes the highlight
value to also be set likewise if it
hasn't been previously defined.
L)ast Toggles the username display for either
a normal display of Firstname Lastname,
or Lastname, Firstname.
F)ile Create a disk file USER.LST of all
userlist users in the USER.BBS file.
P)rint Prints the userlist to the standard
userlist output device. This may be rerouted
with the MODE command (see your MS-DOS
manual).
S)how Causes passwords to be either hidden or
un-hidden. Only passwords of users
having privilege levels less than your
own will be displayed at any time
unless you have SYSOP or HIDDEN
privileges.
P)revious Displays the previous record in the USER.BBS
-) file. Pressing P or - at record 0 will wrap back
to the last record.
R)ecord Will allow you to go directly to a record number
specified.
7
S)ort First, you will specify the sort order, whether
A)scending, or D)escending. Next, you will be
asked to specify one of the following 7 sort
methods:
#) number of calls
C)ity, Prov.
D)ate of last loggon
F)irstname
L)astname
dO)wnload amounts
U)pload amounts
ul/dlR)atio
priV)ilege level
The sort is done using the available memory space
in your computer. It is possible on machines
having large user lists, but a small amount of
internal RAM that the sort routine will run out
of memory. This is extremely unlikely, as for
example, a sort using user's names as the key,
with a user file of 500 entries will require just
20 K bytes of space. Should you by some remote
(pun intended?) chance run out of memory, you
will not lose any data in your USER.BBS file, but
the program will terminate.
There are a couple of things to be aware of so as
not to be alarmed about them when ESPSYSOP does a
sort. These are built in to the code, and
produce the following results:
The sort algorithm is one that I obtained
from Hans Hoogstraat, and seems to be 100%
reliable when used locally. Occassional
quirks have been noticed when a user ends up
in the file twice after a remote sort.
ESPSYSOP now does a test of the integrity of
the sort, and ensures that all records are
written at least, and only once. ESPSYSOP
generates a warning message in this case.
When operating remote (using the /R switch),
the remote user will not get sorted.
Record 0, or point assigned records of the
USER.BBS file do not get sorted. Use the
.)point assignment menu for placing users
into these records.
neX)t Will search for the next user in the file
matching the search string (See option F), and
may be "ABORTED" by pressing any key.
8
The Scan Old Users Menu
-----------------------
This menu gives you many of the scan features of the main
menu, only you will be scanning the records of the USER.OLD
file. The menu selections are the following:
B)egin Go to the beginning of the file (Record 0).
E)nd Go to the last record of the file.
F)ind Operates identically to the F)ind command in the
Main Menu.
N)ext Go to the next record. If you have reached the
+) end of the file, ESPSYSOP will wrap back to
record 0.
P)revious Go to the previous record. If you try to go back
-) previous to record 0, ESPSYSOP will wrap back to
the end of the file.
Q)uit Returns to the C)hange menu. You will be left
with a clean record to add new user information.
R)ecord Go to a specific record number.
S)elect Selects the current record for placement into the
USER.BBS file, and returns you to the C)hange
menu. This record is not actually added to the
USER.BBS file until you then select S)ave in the
C)hange menu.
priV)s This privilege function is identical to the one
accessed via the C)hange selection. Because the
setting of privilege levels is probably one of
the most accessed features, it is included as a
main menu item purely for convenience. As well,
selecting a new privilege level automatically
saves the user's record, as opposed to entering
the privilege menu from C)hange, where you are
returned to the C)hange menu after having
selected a new privilege level. For more
information on making changes, and setting privilege levels, see the
sections "The Change Menu" and "The Privilege
Levels Menu" on the following pages.
neX)t Search for the next user in the USER.OLD file
matching your search string.
9
The Change Menu
---------------
The Change menu consists of a main portion, and an
additional portion accessed through the M)ore changes
selection. The main change menu consists of items more
likely to require change, whereas the M)ore changes menu
would be less likely items. Briefly, the menus contain the
following selections:
C)ity Change the user's city, province.
D)ebit Adjust the debit amount used for sending Fidonet
or OPUS Matrix mail.
F)lags Allows toggling of the various Opus/Fido Flags
displayed near the bottom right of the
information screen.
M)ore Additional change selections. See below.
P)assword Change the user's password.
Q)uit Abort changes and return to the main menu. If
changes have been made, ESPSYSOP will warn you
and ask if you wish to save them first.
cR)edit Adjust the amount of credit a user has available
for sending Fidonet or OPUS Matrix mail.
S)ave Used to save changes to the user's record.
Trying to Q)uit without first having saved
changes will result in a warning message asking
you if you want to save changes or abort them.
U)sername Change the user's name. The name you enter must
be entered as "Firstname Lastname" with one space
separating the two. Case of the letters is
handled automatically.
priV)elege Set the user's privilege level. See below.
10
The More Changes Menu
---------------------
H)elp Set help level. See below.
D)ownload Set the amount of total downloads in K bytes.
U)ploads Set the amount of total uploads in K bytes.
dA)ily D/L Set the amount of downloads during the last 24
hour period in K bytes.
Q)uit Back up to the previous Change Menu. Changes at
this point will not yet have been saved.
S)ave Save the users record and return to the Main
Menu.
T)ime Set the amount of time in minutes on the system
during the last 24 hours.
#) calls Set the total number of calls made by the user to
the system.
Flag Changes Menu
-----------------
This selections in this menu are made simply by pressing
the appropriate key to toggle a flag ON/OFF or YES/NO. The
supported flags are as follows:
A)nsi On OPUS systems, this flag indicates whether then
user wants ANSI sequences enabled to allow color,
and cursor positioning capabilities.
F)ormfeed This amounts to the same thing as "Clear Screen"
on OPUS systems.
M)ore Prompts the user with "More (Y/N)?" after a
predetermined number of lines have been displayed
(set by Screen Length).
O)ped Indicates whether the user wants to use the OPUS
full screen editor in OPUS Versions 1.02 and
higher.
T)abs If enabled, will send tab ($09), otherwise, will
expand with spaces ($20).
U)sed opus A kludge bit defined so that user's either new to
the system, or transfered from a Fido USER.BBS
system to OPUS will get the benefit of some extra
"New user" logon screens in OPUS.
11
Privilege Levels Menu
---------------------
Listed in order of priority, from lowest to highest:
T)wit This is the bottom. You may as well be dead.
D)isgrace Not as bad as it sounds. Most of us were new and
"disgraced" once.
N)ormal
P)rivel
E)xtra
A)sst. Sysop (New to OPUS)
S)ysop
H)idden (New to OPUS). Check the OPUS documentation for
more information on what this one's supposed to
do.
ESPSYSOP treats Sysop and Hidden levels more or less as
equal, meaning that normally when making changes to a user
record, you are not allowed to, unless your privilege level
is higher than the user you want to modify. Sysop, and
Hidden are the exceptions to the rule, with both at present
allowed to modify the settings on a user of any privilege
level. If you have invoked ESPSYSOP with the /F command
line switch, you will not see the privilege levels new to
OPUS.
Help Levels Menu
----------------
N)ovice All menus, with "hand-holding".
R)egular Short form menus.
E)xpert No menus.
12
OPUS and REMOTE OPERATION
-------------------------
ESPSYSOP can automatically read the current user when being run
remote with the /R switch. The user is read from a file called
LASTUSER.BBS. This file is created automatically by OPUS.
Other programs may have to be told to create it. It should
simply be a file containing the "on-line" user's name as the
first piece of information. ESPSYSOP scans the file starting at
record 0 for the user's name, and quits upon encountering any
control character. If you are using OPUS, it is possible to
invoke ESPSYSOP using embedded control codes in a .BBS/.GBS
file. Version 0.00 of OPUS was not able to transfer command
line switches to the called program, and it is therefore
necessary to call ESPSYSOP through a batch file as follows:
The .BBS File
-------------
^OCespsys { Calls the batch file ESPSYS.BAT }
The Calling .BAT File (ESPSYS.BAT)
----------------------------------
watchdog on { Load watchdog program }
espsysop <com1: >com1: /r /k
watchdog off
Note that ^O above represents CTRL O (hex 0F). See your OPUS
sysop documentation for more information about the imbedded
commands.
OPUS version 1.00 now allows command line parameters to be
included as part of the ^OCp command, which will eliminate the
need for the previous batch files. Instead, the .BBS file will
be able to perform all the necessary work. As well, OPUS
version 1.00 now is able to provide watchdog functions while
running an external program (done in the OPUS.CTL file).
^OCespsysop <com1: >com1: /r /k {Invoke ESPSYSOP }
13
POINT ASSIGNMENT
----------------
The benefit of a point address scheme is that mail may be sent
to other Fidonet users simply by keeping track of their point
address, rather than trying to remember name spellings and such.
The other more important benefit is that a point address scheme
could support routing, and more advanced electronic mail
features. Keep in mind that this scheme is not yet totally
implemented, but it does seem to be coming.
ESPSYSOP is able to assign permanent records to users in the
USER.BBS file in anticipation of the upcoming Point Address
scheme. What this means is that starting at record 0 for the
sysop, the user's position in the file will be unaffected by
subsequent sort, delete, or kill operations. ESPSYSOP will
maintain the low record numbers as point addresses. For
example, assigning user John Doe a point number will assign him
with point 1 (assuming this is the first point assignment). The
next user would be assigned point 2, and so on. ESPSYSOP
denotes users with a point address by displaying the word
"POINT" in the "Record" field at the top left of the screen.
Users not assigned a point number are denoted by the word
"USER".
Performing a sort on the file will sort only records marked
"USER", and records marked for deletion will only be purged if
they are above the last point address. Deleting a user within
the point address area will transfer that user to the USER.OLD
file when purged, however the USER.BBS file will reserve that
space to prevent other point addresses from being changed. A
deleted point address is indicated by the words "Available Point
Address" in the Username field. Assigning a new point address
will first cause these fields to be filled before incrementing
the number of point addresses.
ESPSYSOP uses a file called ESPSYSOP.PNT to keep track of the
number of assigned point addresses. This file consists simply
of a 16 bit signed word indicating the record number of the
highest assigned point address.
14
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
---------------------
Command line switches can be used to modify the operation of
ESPSYSOP. They should be used as shown, with a separating space
between each switch. If DOS redirection flags are used, they
seem to work more reliably if specified first, before any of the
switches. Hence, an example of a valid command line for remote
operation of a FIDO type USER.BBS file, displaying last names
first, would be as follows:
ESPSYSOP <COM1: >COM1: /F /R /L
Note that the switches are case independent (they can be upper
or lower case), and can be specified in any order.
/F Tells ESPSYSOP that you are editing a FIDO type
USER.BBS file. The differences between OPUS and FIDO
are minor, and involve mainly some additional
privilege levels in OPUS, and some extra defined bits
in the "More" field such as "Used OPUS", and "ANSI
graphics".
/Hn Set highlight color attribute. If not specified,
ESPSYSOP will use defaults, or the Normal color
attribute if it has been specified. n is a number
between 1 and 15 defining the color as noted below.
/K Keep log file. Saves a record of operations which
affect information in the USER.BBS file in a file
called ESPSYSOP.LOG.
/L Sets the display of names to Last name first.
/Nn Set normal color attribute. If not specified,
ESPSYSOP will use defaults. Setting this switch will
also automatically define the Highlight color equal to
the Normal color unless the /H switch is also used.
The values for n are as follows:
0 Default 8 Gray
1 Red 9 Bright Red
2 Green 10 Bright Green
3 Brown 11 Yellow
4 Blue 12 Bright Blue
5 Magenta 13 Bright Magenta
6 Cyan 14 Bright Cyan
7 White 15 Bright White
/P Show Passwords. Normally ESPSYSOP hides the password
field unless you turn it on in the Options menu, or by
using this switch.
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/R Remote user. OPUS and FIDO both update the USER.BBS
file when a caller logs off. If a remote sysop has
access to the ESPSYSOP program, then this switch
should be used. The reason is very simple; should the
remote sysop make changes to the USER.BBS file,
especially like doing a sort, ESPSYSOP will likely
place the user in a different position of the file.
When logging off, OPUS and FIDO update the USER.BBS
file with the remote sysop's (user's) updated
statistics, but do so at the record where the user was
when he logged on. This essentially would place the
remote sysop into the USER.BBS file twice, and
overwrite the person now existing at that record. The
/R switch will assure that the remote operator always
remains in the same record of the USER.BBS file, even
after a sort, delete, or kill operation. Note also,
that for these reasons, the /S switch should not be
used in a remote situation, since ESPSYSOP then has no
way of knowing who the remote user is, and can not
prevent the problems noted above from occurring.
/S Designed for use on the local console, this switch
is not recommended for remote use. The /S command
line switch will automatically assign sysop privileges
to the user invoking the program and bypass the
initial questions for Username and Password. The
principle here is that the person at the local console
would be able to scan the USER.BBS file anyway, and
therefore, security precautions at this level are
rather useless. Additionally, there are other
possible problems better avoided by not using this
switch in a remote setting. See the /R switch above
for a more detailed explanation. Note that the /S
switch when used on the local console is quite
acceptable, and is not subject to any difficulties.
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/X The eXecute switch is a very powerful new addition to
ESPSYSOP, and should be used with extreme caution.
The /X switch allows stacking of commands on the
command line to facilitate running ESPSYSOP from a
batch file. To use the /X switch, simply place the
commands to be executed one after the other, leaving
no spaces, in the same order as you would press keys
if you were running ESPSYSOP from the console. For
commands that would normally be terminated in a
Carriage Return, substitute the comma character (,).
For example, if you desired ESPSYSOP to generate a
File Listing of the users on your system once a week,
the command sequence would normally be as follows:
O = O)ption screen
F = F)ile userlist
Q = Q)uit option menu
Q = Q)uit ESPSYSOP
This would then be entered into the command line as
follows:
ESPSYSOP /S /Xofqq
Note the use of the /S switch. Since the eXecute
command is being most likely run from a batch file, it
would more than likely not be necessary for ESPSYSOP
to ask for a username and password when being invoked.
Also, note that it is not necessary to use the "Y"
character in the command stack, as ESPSYSOP will
automatically answer Yes/No questions with Yes when
executing the command stack. This means that if you
wish to exit ESPSYSOP, all you need is the letter "q",
although ESPSYSOP would also accept "qy", and just
ignore the "y". This rule would also apply in other
situations, such as when purging the USER.BBS file of
records marked for deletion, ESPSYSOP normally asks
"...do you wish to purge (Y/N) ?", and would then
automatically proceed to answer the question with "Y"
if processing the command stack.
One other example, although not a likely one, will
serve to illustrate the use of the comma character.
The following command line would cause ESPSYSOP to
automatically find the first record with the occurence
of the string "JOHN" in it, and then quit:
ESPSYSOP /S /Xfjohn,q
Note that if ESPSYSOP is scanning the command stack
for a string (as in this example using the find
command), that the scan for the string will end at
either a comma, or the end of the command stack.
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One further example will serve to illustrate
ESPSYSOP's housecleaning function using the K)ill
command's N)umber of days option. Suppose it was
desired to purge the USER.BBS file of user's whose
accounts have been inactive for over 90 days. This is
possible by entering the following command line into
your BBS.BAT file at an appropriate point:
ESPSYSOP /S /Xkn90,q
ESPSYSOP does NOT do any error checking beyond the
normal checks it would do from the keyboard. What
this means is that unrecognized commands are ignored,
and ESPSYSOP then goes on to the next command in the
stack. For instance, the command above with which we
illustrated the F)ind command, would possibly cause
some problems, if by accident the f had been entered
as a d. To illustrate, ESPSYSOP would then interpret
the following line:
EPSYSOP /S /Xdjohn,q
D = D)elete record
J = unrecognized main menu option
O = O)ption menu
H = H)ighlight color
N = unrecognized color selection
Q = unrecognized color selection
As you can see, the possibilities for crashes, and so
on, are endless. Our suggestion; TEST YOUR eX)ecute
COMMAND STACK ON A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR USER.BBS FILE
THOROUGHLY BEFORE INSERTING IT INTO YOUR BBS.BAT FILE!
The command can be very useful, but could potentially
be very destructive. We cannot stress often enough,
test it on a backup until you are sure your command
stack is proper.
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REVISION INFORMATION
--------------------
Version 1.10
------------
- Added the /R command line switch.
- Optimized the display output routine for faster screen
updates.
- Added the +) and -) options as alternates to N)ext and
P)revious respectively.
Version 1.20
------------
- Addition of Point Address support functions.
- Moved S)ysop to rec. 0 option to the .)point option menu.
- Added /K command line switch.
- Added a purge command (!).
- Changed screen restore command to (*).
- Added "List" functions to output the USER.BBS file in a
list form either to a file, or to the printer.
- Added test for integrity of sorts. ESPSYSOP will
generate a warning message if a sort was not 100%
successful. This does not affect the integrity of the
USER.BBS file. Rather it simply means that some records
may be out of the desired sort order.
Version 1.21
------------
- The M)ax point address function (in the .)point menu),
which was documented already in version 1.20 was left out
as an oversight. It has now been included.
- A bug was found in the purge routine. This bug sometimes
caused users in point address locations to be lost, and
other users to be placed into the file twice. This has
been corrected.
Version 1.30
------------
- Addition of the delete by N)umber of days option in the
K)ill command. Primarily useful for automatic
housecleaning.
- Addition of the /X (eXecute) command line switch.
- All OPUS flags are now supported (up to Version 1.02).
- Added a priV)s command to the Main Menu for convenience
in setting privilege levels.
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WARRANTY
--------
This program comes with no warranties, express or implied. You
use it at your own risk. ELTRON Software Products will not be
responsible for any damages or losses as a result of using this
program. Registered users will receive on-line support through
the ESP BBS and notifications of any modifications.
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